I have stopped teaching. I will continue to use this web log to share tools and resources. My former students are still welcome to post to this web log. If any new people want to join the web log and post entries or comments let me know and I will add you to the web log.

These are two sets of pictures taken in the theater. I took them as the mother of Arthur in Camelot. This set is me as a mom and this set was selected by my son to show the performance for all the cast. It was interesting to see the ones he selected of himself and the ones I selected and what came up in both sets.

Taking a picture in the low light is always a challenge. I try to take pictures when the loud shutter won't stick so bad and bother others. Also I turned the camera display off so not to distract and I stayed in my seat.

1) The ocean on both coasts of the United States. My parents and I traveled for a while and we went to both the east and west coasts.

2) There was an Ice Dogs game where, as soon as the puck hit the ice for the start of the game, all the starting players from both teams had thrown down their gloves and started fighting.

3) My friends and I took a little road trip down to Anchorage and even though it was only a day long drive, it was still a lot of fun. We did a lot of crazy stuff along the drive to Anchorage.

4) One of my favorite houses that I had lived in was a house in a small town, in the state of Nevada. I lived there for about 4.5 years with My parents, brothers, sister-in-law, niece, and all our pets at the time. It was a beautiful and large house and I love my memories of that place.

5) When I was a little bit younger I saw my old dog have puppies and, to me, it was amazing.

1. My father, sitting aside a cash register and behind a counter. We were confectioners back then and he was selling school kids candy during their lunch break. I couldn't help but notice how much fun he was having while laughing and talking with the kids.

2. It was a once in a lifetime hike throughout the Pico de Europe mountains in northern Spain. After several hours climbing a sharp incline we emerged out of a dense fog to find ourselves on top of a cloud which stretched for miles along the coast. For a moment it felt like I was walking on top of another dimension.

3. I was fortunate enough to have a good seat within a relatively small; yet, acoustically excellent theater to hear jazz great Miles Davis play. There were many moments that would have been photographically satisfying but the image I loved most was when he was alone, far off to one side, looking down or aways while others continue to play. He had this haunting detachment occupying his overall expression and I wished I could have the picture. However, for some inexplicable reason taking a camera didn't even occur to me.

4. It was a night time event at Creamer field where people came out and looked through each others scopes and talked about astronomy. But the real show, or distraction according to some, came later that evening, when the auroras borialis blanketed the sky from east to west. Until then, I've not known how mystifyingly beautiful they were.

5. As I was bike riding throughout the winter going to and from work a shadow would often emerge beneath me casting a reflection and silhouette of my body on top of the bike. What was interesting was that my exhaled breath would look like a dark mist momentarily being expelled from my head. Maybe a good B&W.

A photographer I really enjoy is Walter Iooss. He has great sports photography. He takes pictures of athletes making them seem like a regular person like you and me. Then he takes action shots, making these athlete seem superhuman.

1. I don't remember how young my brother was , but he lost his first tooth and was ecstatic. He believed to the tooth fairy was going to make rich. He had the biggest gapped tooth smile. I wish I could have captured the happiness on his face.

2. One day after a short thunderstorm, the sun came back out and I spotted a double rainbow. I've never seen that before, but i didn't have a camera on me. I haven't seen one since that day.

3. At the dog sled race my camera battery was dead. I wanted to take pictures of the auctioning of the animal furs, and was highly disappointed.

4. During a basketball game one of my friends dunked the ball from the free throw line. it seemed like he was in the air forever. I wish i could have captured his mid air flight, but I was in the game.

5. Back in December I spotted a moose on campus next to my dorm. The moose was eating off of the trees. It was so peaceful, but I didn't have my camera on me.

Number 48 on this page is my fav picture right now. I just had to give a power point presentation in my biology class and i used this picture in it.

fav photographer is Robert Silvershttp://www.photomosaic.com/portfolio.html

5 pictures

the full moon: i love looking at the moon i would like to get a good shot of it, but i have never had a camera capable to doing it. Every time i see lighting or the northern light i wish i could capture them in a camera, when ever i have tried they havent come out. naked pictures of myself in my 20's for evidence of the body i used to have, and lastly a picture of me and my grandmother before i moved to alaska, i am sure it will be the last time i will ever see her.

Friday, March 27, 2009

A photograph I like: Underwater Photograph by Alix Malka. This is an underwater photograph taken of a model in yards and yards of fabric floating elegantly through the water. This picture was taken for Numero Tokyo.

As you can guess from my photograph choice, I really enjoy underwater photographs. Zena Holloway is a photographer that I really enjoy. She has a series titled "Water Babies" which I find intersting. Normally I dont enjoy pictures of children, but her unique combination of underwater and digitally altered pictures are really beautiful. The section titled "Limited Edition" is by far my favorite of her works. Zena Holloway was born in Britian and raised in London. Her website is: http://www.zenaholloway.com/zena.html

#1) Working downtown in Fairbanks, Alaska I come across a lot of homeless persons when I work the opening shifts starting 7 a.m. Last winter a homeless person was sitting outside, an elderly female who always wore the same heavy winter boots and army jacket. She was waiting for me to open the co-op and was sitting outside. It was -10 below zero and I was freezing, but even though her features with physically frosty her eyes and spirit seemed undeniably warm. I would I could have taken a picture to capture the warmth in her eyes in contrast with the cold outside.

#2) At the Open North American dog race in Fairbanks last weekend I saw a teenage native-Alaskan male who was wearing a seemingly hand-embroidered hat with the name "Chris Brown". The letters were bright yellow contrasting against the black dirty hat. I wondered if that was actually his name or if it was a tribute to a popular R&B artist. I wish I could have taken a picture of him.

#3) I took my pet rabbit to a friends house in a designer handbag, using a sweatshirt in the oversize bag to keep him warm. He is a black rabbit and he was wearing a leopard print harness. While I was sitting in the car securing the bag to take him inside a large "outside" dog ran up to the car and pressed his face against the window, causing the rabbit to lean out of his bag and press his face close to the glass. As the large mangy looking dog stared through the glass at the pampered pet, it would have been an interesting picture.

#4) I did not take a picture of a large brown bear wandering into a valley on the Norris Glacier, where my work camp was set up. Two managers of the camp worried about the fact that the bear was wandering quickly towards our camp with over 200 sled dogs set up and nothing else but white all around us. The two men jumped on snow machines and took off to "herd" the bear away from camp. The picture would have had 200+ dogs barking crazily at the bear being surrounded by two snow machines intent on scaring the bear away.

#5) I wish I could have gotten a picture in Virac, Philippines while I was eating lunch in a small dirt-floor hut. The overly salty fish sat in front of me, and a small black and brown monkey watched me through the paneless window.

1. A photograph I like - This photograph is a close up of a hand with fingers coming out of water and a droplet of water hitting the water in the palm of the hand. I love the texture, the shadowing, and the faint color. Plus I just love water in general :)

2. A photographer I like - I found this website of Joseph O. Holmes' work. He is a photographer that posts daily pictures on his website. Most of these are taken in NYC. I love the texture, mood, and subjects he captures.

1. I spent a weekend in New York City last year. I spent all my time taking pictures above my head or straight in front of me. I wish I would have taken a picture of people's feet, walking on the sidewalk covered in random flyers. It would have better captured the feeling of my time there.

2. A few summers ago there was a large forest fire on the other side of the river a few miles from my house. I wish I would have taken a picture of the glow the fire created above the trees at night. It was dangerous, yet beautiful.

3. As I was walking home from choir practice a couple late evenings, the street lights were reflecting off the snow and made it look like glitter falling from the sky, and the ground looked like a blanket of glitter. I wish I could have somehow captured the beautiful quiet with a camera.

4. A large part of my childhood/teenage years were spent at a piano sitting in front of a window in my home, with the view of the forest in the backyard. I wish I had taken a picture of my perspective while I was sitting there, including the top of the piano and the window. It would be pretty meaningful to me.

5. When I lived in the dorms my sophomore year, some of the residence life staff moved a movie projector outside to the middle of the street in front of the dorms. We all sat on the grass, the sidewalk, and even into the street to watch the movie. They blocked off the street on both sides. I wish I would have gotten a photo of this from a distance, road blocks and all.

Why do I take photographs? I take pictures for various reasons. Sometimes for memory keepsakes, sometimes for pictures to add to a room or a scrapbook, sometimes for history sake and sometimes for fun.

Five pictures that I did not take, but wished I had: The first one would be the pictures from my oldest son's high school graduation, my camera froze and I missed the photos. The next picture would be more pictures of the farm I grew up on. I have so many memories in my head, but wish I had pictures to share a more visual experience for my children. I also wish that I would of photographed the Mendenhall Glacier when I lived near there. I figured since I could see it from my porch that it would always be there to view. Now when I went back it has receded so much all the colors of blue seem to have disappeared. I wish I would have taken pictures of the wildlife I seen on my first road trip within Alaska. I saw so many different wild creatures and have no pictures of any of them. Finally, I wish I would have taken more landscape photos in New Hampshire during fall foliage, the colors were so vibrant and the leaves have so many different shapes.

I enjoy the photographs by John Shaw. He is a nature photographer. I love all aspects of nature photography, not only landscapes, but also critters and close-ups of earth objects.http://www.johnshawphoto.com/galleries.html

i like this photo. It shows the dead mountains as well as the live mountains. It is both sunny and dark out. It has all of lifes bad as well as all of lifes good. It makes me happy and sad at the same time. Its hard to explain but I found it almost a year ago in my high school projects class and just liked it instantly.

i really like Steve Curtis. He is a great photographer that takes pictures of anything and everything, just like me. :) He has an interesting way of looking at things, even plain things that others would not look twice at. He uses some photoshop on some of his photos but it only makes them better.

1. The first time Hunter did a 360 standing up in a kneeboard. His facial expression was hilarious.

2. I went to Onion Portage to collar caribou and used up all my film before we even started collaring, which was bad. Watching the caribou get to the shallow water was unforgettable and I wish other people could have seen it.

3. My graduation night. We all decided to not take cameras so there are no pictures of anything we did. Now, I wish there were.

4. Driving to Nome from Council we saw a few herds of Musk-ox. They just looked really neat with the mountains and flowers around them.

5. I wish I would have had a camera this whole summer. I worked for NSEDC at the Fish and Game camp doing a juvenile coho research project and got to see a lot of wildlife and just wish I had pictures of it.

This is a picture of the fountain that I never took. The building in the background is the Rathaus(city hall). The building stands very talll and what you can't see is that it is surrounded by some very beasutiful natural ruins. The water fountain itself is a place where people would gather by the nearby grass and enjoy looking at it.

1. I always wanted to take a photograph of the water fountain in the middle of my hometown in Germany. When I went back there 2 years ago it was no longer there for my enjoyment. I wish I had taken the picture because I like the way the setting was with the fountain in the middle of the town. It didn't make the town growded looking and the way the water flowed from it was so beautiful and breath taking.

2. I also wanted to take a picture of the church in Germany where I had my Communion when I was 15 years old. It was a very old church, but still looked very beautiful. I like the arcitecture of that church. It is still there, but didn't get a chance to go to the town it was in. Now I am not able to go there so easily to get that photograph.

3. When I was on my way home from Chena Hot Springs one night there was the beautiful Northern Lights. It was -30 and I had been outside enough in the cold for one evening (walked in the cold to the hot springs). I didn't want to get out and take the picture and was sure that I would seem them again one day when I went out there. It has been 2 years and I haven't had the pleaure to see them again. Next time I will get out and take that picture.

4. I had always wanted to take a picture from the very top of the Statue of Liberty. I think it would have been a very beautiful sight. When my daughter went last year with her family she informed me that you can no longer go to the very top, but you can go inside somewhat. I also would like to take a picture of Lady Liberty from the Fairy.

5. I have always taken pictures of my kids on the rides at the German carnivals, but I wish I would have taken pictures of the carnival as a whole. I miss being able to go to that great event and wish I had pictures to show my grand children of the carnival that I used to take their mom and uncle to.

I like this photo of the constrution workers back in 1932, because it gives the viewer somewhat of an idea of what contruction was like back then. Also, I like how the construction workers in the photo are just casually eating their lunch even though they are on what is now the 69th floor of a new york building.

I also like the photographer of this photo, Charles C. Ebbets. The pictures he took are mainly of the construction workers working on a new york building, but all of them show the dangers of being a construction worker back in 1932 and how the workers just go about there day as if they where only one foot off the ground.http://www.scribd.com/doc/5617915/Charles-C-Ebbets-Photography-Lunch-on-the-skyscraper (the first photo shown on this website, is the photo I talk about above)

Thursday, March 26, 2009

First I would like to point out an interesting black & white photo done by Lewis Morley. I love black & white photos, but I really liked how the reflection captured the rest of the facial expressions by this mother and daughter. It is the 3rd photo down on this website.

Second, I really liked the photography of James Ravilious. He has a broad range from simplicity to capturing detail in obscure images, again in the black and white photos I really enjoy.

1. I wish I had taken a picture of the mother Dall sheep teaching her young to not only jump the rapids at the Savage River, but also of them smelling us humans as they passed within a foot of us on the footpath on a hill in Denali National Park. There must have been two dozen folks on the trail and the sheep casually sniffed and passed each one of us!2. There was a local transient I saw from the bus some five years ago, and it appeared that he had a major infection from a broken jaw. Sad as it was, I wish I taken taken a photo to chronicle the ailments of the local inebriates and the need for funding to help them with sobriety and getting on their feet. I only saw him once again after that.3. There used to be an older woman in town that toted a Radio Flyer around Fairbanks filled with yellow legal pads and pencils. She would write nasty letters to the government and various politicians with her complaints. She wore an old dingy reddish-orange life preserver because she said she was drowning in the chaos of our governments wrong-doings.4. When I was in my last couple of years in high school in New York, I used to jog along the beach at night with my dog Katie. One night she found a baby stingray that looked like it was "gasping for air," as it was laying on the sand less than six feet from the ocean. I carefully placed it back into the water as I heard the anxious barks of my dog. I wish I had photographed it so others may better understand the eeriness of it's facial expression that I saw. 5. I wish I had taken a picture of my godson Timmie when I first met him at less than three weeks of age. In our first introduction, he took a nap as I was holding him and the look of wonder on his face, matched mine when he awoke.

Monday, March 23, 2009

We have our Photo Walk scheduled to the University of Alaska Museum of the North on April 11th. We will try to be there around 1:00. I am excited about the opportunity to take some photographs around the museum and to also see some "behind the scenes" stuff! Stuff is a technical photographic term.

I published a smaller set of photographs to Flickr. I like both Picasa Web Albums and Flickr. The advantage of Flickr is a much stronger user community. The advantage of Picasa is that it works better and is much less confusing. If I want to share with just family or friends I use Picasa and make a private album. When I send people the URl they can see and share the photographs.

I just got an email from the Ice Art people. The cost for each of us will be $8.00. This is the price that teachers and adults pay when they escort a school tour. My plan is for us to get there around 1:00.Steve

Saturday, March 21, 2009

I am currently trying to improve my sports action photography. I have been asked to cover a baseball season for a high school. What the picture for me v what a parent or coach wants. Brad Mangin has some of the types of picture I would like to get. These are action photos, lots of equipment and people in mid air. I also like to get more of the feeling of the players The opportunity for action in baseball happen infrequent and fast. Keeping focused and awake to catch that moment is hard. Then when you do watch the game remember to take the picture and not just watch and cheer. I like these photographer too.

I now work downtown and many days I don't bring my camera because I ride the bus and can't bring everything.

1. The seasonal light changes of buildings downtown as well as though out the day, the Northward and the Mt. McKinley Bank building.2. Dense ice fog downtown. I had my camera some days but the "good" days were the days I didn't bring my camera3. The Galapagos Islands under water. I flooded my camera the first day. I would love to have pictures of the sharks. I have mixed feelings and I also enjoyed just watching.4. Going from Homer to Augustine Island - Volcano on a landing craft on a still evening, flat water, full moon in July.5. Halebopp Comet- I took lots of Hyakutake and then let the brighter one go. Maybe because it was so popular and everyone was taking these pictures so I didn't.

The course web site for the Spring CIOS 258 course is done as well as the first weeks lesson outline. The Photo Walk for the first class will be the North American Open Dog Sled Race. I have posted links on the lesson one outline for ideas and inspiration.